July 1, 2006

IBM's Lotus Same Time Brings Integrated Instant Messaging

Instant Messaging is wonderful - it's like having ice cream on a hot day. However, basic IM services are limited to working only with one particular IM service and are not interoperable between IM services. Yahoo customers IM to Yahoo customers, MSN to MSN and AOL to AOL. IBM's Lotus Sametime has a solution that gives IM presence to your Microsoft applications and lets you communicate with popular IM services.

IBM's press release reads - IBM recently announced that it will extend the reach of its upcoming Lotus Sametime 7.5 collaboration platform by providing integration with Microsoft Outlook, Office and SharePoint applications. In addition, Sametime 7.5 will offer direct connectivity to mobile devices from RIM and Nokia, as well as Microsoft Windows Mobile devices.

With Lotus Sametime 7.5, Microsoft users have access to a full set of instant messaging and Web conferencing capabilities, without requiring costly upgrades. Within Microsoft word processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications, Lotus Sametime customers will be able to take advantage of Lotus Sametime 7.5 features, such as sending an instant message, initiating a call, sharing an application or launching a Web conference. Within Microsoft email inboxes, users will be able to view online presence information, schedule Web conferences from their calendars and with a click, access full Lotus Sametime capabilities, including Web conferencing.

* No charge access to public instant messaging networks: Lotus Sametime 7.5 will offer access to leading public instant messaging vendors at no additional cost.

* Audio/Video Integration: Lotus Sametime 7.5 will offer integration with leading audio and video providers, enabling features like "click to call" and integrated audio with phone and video conferences. Working with IBM in this area are Avaya, Avistar, Cisco, Nortel, Siemens, Premiere Global Services, Polycom and Tandberg.

* Location-based Awareness: Lotus Sametime 7.5 is the only enterprise instant messaging platform to offer advanced location awareness.

* Multiple person Voice over IP calls: Lotus Sametime 7.5 is the only enterprise instant messaging platform to offer voice over IP calls between multiple users.

* Flexible support for multiple platforms and operating systems: The Lotus Sametime client runs on Windows, Mac, Linux and on Windows, AIX and IBM System i servers.

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